For countless millennia it has been an objective of people to mark the passage of time. To this end, various calendars or systems for reckoning dates have been developed which are based upon religious beliefs, astrological happenings, other factors, or some combination thereof. Examples of such calendars (Gregorian, Julian, Islamic, Judaic, Chinese, etc.) are well known and are employed around the world where different regions favor the usage of a particular calendar.
Oftentimes, it is not easy to reconcile dates between the various calendars as conversion algorithms may become very complex or impossible to implement. This problem is especially true for those calendars that exhibit random date reconciliation characteristics. For example, the Islamic (Hijri) calendar is based upon visual observance of lunar cycles. As a result, the beginning of a new month is linked to actual sightings of a crescent moon from a given locale. Therefore, because sightings are influenced by local weather conditions affecting visibility, actual sightings may not occur uniformly or exactly as anticipated. As a result, weather conditions and differences in the observer's location may even lead to differences between Islamic calendars from different regions.
The great diversity of calendars poses particular difficulties for any company desiring to globally market a product having a calendar based feature. To have the greatest chance of meeting the marketplace with success, the product must adapt to local customs of calendar usage so as to appeal to the intended customers. These difficulties are especially true for postage meters which rely heavily on accurate date tracking for accounting and inspection purposes.
A typical postage meter (one example of a value dispensing system) applies evidence of postage, commonly referred to as a postal indicia, to an envelope or other mailpiece and accounts for the value of the postage dispensed. As is well known, postage meters include an ascending register, that stores a running total of all postage dispensed by the meter, and a descending register, that holds the remaining amount of postage credited to the meter and that is reduced by the amount of postage dispensed during a transaction. The postage meter generally also includes a control sum register which provides a check upon the descending and ascending registers. The control sum register stores a running account of the total funds having been added into the meter over the life of the meter. In this manner, the control sum register must always correspond with the summed readings of the ascending and descending registers. That is, the control sum register is the total amount of postage ever put into the postage meter and is alterable only when adding funds to the meter. Using the ascending, descending and control sum registers, the dispensing of postal funds may be accurately tracked and recorded by a governing postal authority.
Furthermore, postage meters are heavily regulated by the governing postal authority which typically requires that the postage meters contain a secure real time clock for ensuring accurate date tracking. Generally, each postal authority requires that the postage meter print at least the following: (i) the current date or some other date within a fixed bandwidth around the current date; (ii) the postage meter serial number; (ii) the value of the postage dispensed as part of the postal indicia. In this manner, the postal authority may monitor the usage and operation of the postage meter. Typically, the postal authorities require that the printed date correspond to the actual date that the mailpiece is deposited with the postal authority for delivery. Dates may also be used by the postal authority for accounting and/or inspection purposes. For these reasons, the postage meter manufacturer typically enters the correct date into the postage meter prior to installation at a customer location. In this way, the date information is secured from tampering by the customer.
Thus, there is a need for a postage meter having an adaptable calendar system capable of supporting a variety of different types of calendars. Additionally, there is a need for a postage meter having the capability to reconcile minor variations in time that may result from calendar irregularities, such as those discussed above.